Deutsche Telekom defends Fatherland’s traffic

Germany's biggest telecoms operator thinks it can shield local internet traffic from foreign spies by routing it only through domestic connections.

Deutsche Telekom has already announced that it would only channel local email traffic through servers within Germany but now it wants to agree with other internet providers that any data being transmitted domestically would not leave German borders. A spokesman said that the initiative could be expanded to the Schengen area, referring to the group of 26 European countries that have abandoned immigration controls.

The UK is not included because Great Britain hands over all data with the US as a matter of course. Germans are a little more sensitive to spying because they know where that sort of thing leads to, having been spied on by the former communist STASI and Hitler's Nazis.

One ISP, QSC, had questioned the feasibility of its plan to shield internet traffic, saying it was not possible to determine clearly whether data was being routed nationally or internationally. Vodafone and Telefonica, are currently considering whether they want to join Deutsche Telekom's initiative.